The bathroom users experience three major problems with the toilet seats. The first problem is the seat can get wet. I found and studied quite a bit of the utility patents on toilet seat lifters. The U.S. patent numbers are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,030,146, 4,103,371, 4,150,446, 4,426,743, 4,470,161, 4,534,073, 4,578,830, 4,649,576, 4,975,988, 5,103,506, 5,237,708, 5,448,782, 5,488,743, 6,081,936. Those lifters supposedly solve problem of lifting and lowering the toilet seat without touching by the person using the bathroom, with the purpose of preventing a toilet seat from being wet by urine. The problem is important, however you do not see those lifters in the stores. The lifters are too complicated, have too many parts and have expensive components. They would cost too much to produce and create an "industrial" look in the bathroom. They also are not easy to install, maintain or clean. On the other hand, the bathroom users, especially children, will not always step on those pedals, trigger sensor pads and push those buttons.
The second problem with the conventional toilet seat is: the seat can be in two positions, either up or down. In some families males are responsible for leaving a toilet seat in the down position after using the bathroom. If he forgets to put the seat down, it might cause night accidents, as females, without turning the light on, sit on the toilet bowl instead of toilet seat. If a toilet seat has the ability to automatically come to the only position after the person uses the bathroom, that problem of accidents, as described, would be eliminated. I found the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,910,810, 5,138,724 and 5,435,017, which offer the solution to the problem. These lifters, after a delay, automatically raise the seat from the horizontal position after the seat was released. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,020,165, 5,437,063, 5,754,985 offer to raise the seat using the toilet flushing. Again, those lifters have many weak points.
The third problem with the conventional toilet seat is: the areas around the hinges for the toilet seat cannot easily or thoroughly be cleaned where it attaches to the toilet bowl. The existing projects on the toilet seat lifters do not offer the solution, they make cleanliness problem more complicated.